The proportion of the air-mix method being used as the temperature control method for vehicle air conditioners is high. Vehicle air conditioners employing this air-mix method have a heater core disposed on the downstream side of an evaporator disposed in an air channel and a bypass channel for bypassing the heater core, and control the temperature by adjusting, with an air-mix damper, the flow rate ratio of airflow to be reheated by the heater core to airflow cooled by the evaporator and by mixing the airflow reheated by the heater core and the airflow caused to bypass the heater core in an air-mix area on the downstream side thereof.
Among the above-described vehicle air conditioners employing the air-mix method, those in which the foot channel for guiding airflow mixed in the air-mix area to the foot outlet is formed on the back side of the partition wall constituting the heated air channel are known (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Patent Document 1 discloses one in which an end of the partition wall is curved frontward and is formed into a streamline shape, and airflow heated by the heater core is made to flow on the upstream side of the air-mix area, so that air mixing is enhanced and the airflow is smoothly guided to the foot channel along the end of the streamline shape.
Patent Document 2 discloses one in which the vicinity of the end of the partition wall is curved frontward and the end is made to serve as an edge end, a swelled portion swelled toward the inside of the foot channel is formed in the vicinity of an inlet of the foot channel on the back side of the partition wall located downstream of the edge end, and a stagnation portion of the flow generated in the vicinity of the downstream of the edge end is filled with the swelled portion, so that an increase in air-flow resistance due to the stagnation portion is restricted, increasing air flow rate and reducing noise.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2003-34119
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2004-148963